Sunday Edition #15 - The Heterotopia of Hypographic Media
Also: Half-Marathon #3, K-Pop Demon Hunters, and Ocean Vuong
Welcome to the Sunday Edition where I share interesting articles and links alongside what I’ve been up to!
Hypographic Media
A deeply interesting from Daniel Bashir describes “hypographic media” as:
hypographic media are socially realized systems where retrieval or selection traces (prompts, queries, IME codes) are preserved and read as communicative objects, rather than being discarded as inputs.
Put it in other terms:
is the immediately erased evidence of decisions made in the process of producing an artifact; media, a socio-technical system that organizes communication.
I *love* acquiring a name for this media. I’ve always been deeply fascinated by the artifacts of process. eg, for my debut novel, I went into deep depths of archiving and recording my own creative process. You can even read the first drafts. It also reminds in some way of sheet music even if sheet music isn’t generally immediately erased.
In today, he points to digital Chinese character writing, search terms, and lately, the conversations used in prompting LLMs to produce an artifact. Sometimes when people write essays with an LLM, they also publish the corresponding LLM chat (like with some of
’s Sloptraptions).Daniel is right that there are proto forms of hypographic media:
I think numerous forms of proto-hypographic media already exist. “Process artifacts” can be used to describe the tangible byproducts of the development of a project or system: in software development, this might take the form of design documents, meeting notes, and other reference material. This gives insight into the choices made, tradeoffs considered, and other thinking that might have factored in the production of a final artifact but do not, themselves, exist as part of that artifact.
But, it’s becoming more salient with LLM’s, because, in part, the native media of this format *is* the conversation.
In The New Yorker, Princeton historian D. Graham Burnett describes how he assigns students to work with ChatGPT, then reads their dialogues; he treats some of the students’ rich exchanges with the model about theology and other subjects as serious intellectual work. In reading the process (which may or may not have led to an orthographic output such as an essay), Burnett is modeling hypographic media in education: the conversation that makes an essay or other output possible is itself a communicative object used for learning and assessment.
In modern knowledge work, it’s been the case for a while that it’s often more valued *how* a person produces their work compared to the output itself. When you judge a new hire, the clues on capability more likely comes from seeing and understanding how they process information. So, it makes sense, especially in education, it looks like, that hypographic media becomes the thing that matters. I mean, you *could* task an LLM to create a fake conversation, but it seems easier to monitor than the alternative of *only* requiring output.
Generally, however, having a name for this type of media: the writing used in the course of the production of artefacts, is a very interesting idea. It feels like there’s a “there there” here especially as it relates to LLMs and I think it’s more than just having it exist as linkable process artefacts. There’s a heterotopia like feeling to it… What if we kissed in that interstitial and temporary space of words being written, only to be discarded?
(ht The
Discord for this one)The Anthropic Settlement (with Copyright Holders)
Being in writerly circles, I’ve been trying to get good information on exactly what the Antropic settlement entails, both for authors, and also what it means legally.
Dave Hansen has a great summary.
In short, the primary settlement agreement surrounds Anthropic’s use of pirated media and doesn’t seem to set any further precedent on LLM training. So far, legally (not pirated) scanning books are still regarded as fair use.
Perhaps the most important takeaway from all this is what this settlement is not: this settlement doesn’t establish new precedents for AI training or create ongoing licensing obligations for Anthropic. It simply resolves liability for past conduct involving the LibGen and PiLiMi datasets, leaving the broader legal landscape around AI training largely unchanged. Judge Alsup’s earlier ruling that LLM training constitutes fair use remains intact and continues to provide important guidance for the industry.
While I’m not particularly interested in the details atm, it does seem that there’s some drama with regards to how to precisely administer claims. As TechnoLlama says, perhaps, per usual: “tl;dr, the largest beneficiary will be the lawyers.”
Sami Angawi’s House
How incredibly dreamy is this house of architect Sami Angawi?!
Definitely would live here and likely never leave. 😂
What I’ve Been Up To
🏃 Running - Half-Marathon #3!
Finished my 3rd half-marathon this morning. Probably the worst race I’ve run. Something was wrong and I struggled to fuel, giving me pretty bad stitches/cramps. Never happened before. I did go out harder than usual, so that might have been the reason. Combined with not wanting to back off, I properly bonked at the end, with the last 2kms having plenty of walking. Still… I remarkably managed to run a PB, shaving off a few seconds. Lots of lessons learned here. Need to manage my pace better and hopefully that helps with the stitches.
Still, a race is a victory lap, and I’m proud of where I am with my running. Now, I need to start doing trails for Nov. More, soon. 🔜
✍️ Writing - Novel #2 Revision
It’s been slower than I’ve wanted. The attempt at the revision of the first 10 to 50 pages also unearthed a feeling that perhaps I might be in store for a larger rewrite. It’s hard: because, I *shouldn’t* actually be rewriting this much until I’ve gotten more feedback/rejections from agents, but I also can’t deny what feels good/right in terms of adjusting the story. So, I feel more stuck than I’ve wanted.
📺 Watching - K-Pop Demon Hunters
It’s the most watched Netflix title ever, and if you are in any way near kids, you’d know how massive this film is. Even walking through nearby parks, I hear groups of kids running around and singing the songs. Golden already has 330m+ views.
I watched it, and it was very entertaining. I’m generally a sucker for musical themed action (like in Umbrella Academy) and so on top of that, it had a warm heart, great funny moments, and a gentle focus on dealing with shame.
It’s for you, if you enjoy: great animation, k-pop, lighthearted fun, and a heartfelt plot.
🕹 Gaming - UFO 50
Still playing in dribs and drabs, enjoying discovering each new game (in the meta-game).
I did watch the Nintendo Direct on Friday, which was a bit disappointing, except for Hades 2 getting a release date (which is very soon)! So, super excited about that. I’ve tried to avoid it in order to be surprised, but considering that Hades 1 is one of my favourite Switch games, I can’t wait!
📚 Reading - Lydia Davis, and Ocean Vuong - On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
I’ve been meaning to read Ocean Vuong and after a nudge from a friend, I’m busy reading both Lydia Davis’ short stories and Ocean Vuong’s biggest hit. With Lydia Davis, I’m enjoying reading her “very” short stories, her vignettes of feeling. A different style of short story I’m used to. While I’m usually more a plot reader versus literary prose reader, it’s wonderful to read Ocean’s writing. It’s vivid and immersive.
Learning a lot from reading both Lydia & Ocean.
🎶 Listening - The Temper Trap - Lucky Dimes
Oh, my millennial heart. The Temper Trap is back with a really great single.
Great fuzzy guitars. Great indie spirit. Bring back 00’s indie sleaze. Dust off the skinny jeans. Let’s go!
That’s it for this week, friends. Hope you get to enjoy a lovely sunset!
Simon